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Rosie_MRCVS, Dog Veterinarian

Category: Dog Veterinary

Satisfied Customers: 1065

Experience: BVetMed MRCVS, Qualified veterinarian of ten years in small animal practice in England

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After having surgery (the third time) removal of several

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After having surgery (the third time) for the removal of several hemangiopericytomas, the surgeon put my golden on gabapentin for the pain. He is still very sore and the wound is barely healed, but they want to discontinue the drug. i wold like to keep him on it awhile longer until he has healed more. Would you be opposed to that and if so, what are your reasons? (My grandson was on neurontin for over a year with no side effects).

Hi I'm Rosie one of the vets and I'd like to try and help you.The main concern with gabapentin is that unfortunately its efficacy can decrease over time - which means you can end up needing to give higher and higher doses for the same effect. I suspect that the surgeon thinks that it isn't working any more so is not worth giving. The other side is that gabapentin is processed in the body by the kidneys and then out through the urine. This means that it puts strain on them so if you are wanting to continue using it then I would definitely discuss with your vet tests to make sure that your dog's kidneys are looking ok on bloods.On balance, if the blood tests are ok then I don't see a problem with continuing the gabapentin - I don't think it would do any harm. However I'm not convinced it will be as effective, and so for that reason it may be worthwhile trying alternate sources of pain relief. Obviously if you do decide to stop treating him with it then it is very important to wean him off it gradually, rather than a sudden stop. Dogs can get seizures due to a sudden withdrawal of gabapentin.I hope I've helped - if you have any questions from this then just hit 'reply' and I will get them and get back to you. Otherwise, if you have found this useful, please leave a positive rating so that I may be compensated for my time. Thank you, ***** ***** luck, Rosie.